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Investor & Technical Assistance Database

This database targets companies looking for financial and/or technical support. The database lists organisations and initiatives providing different kinds of support, such as capital in the form of grants, loans and equity, or technical support in the form of advice, partnership brokering or networking support. To learn more about the database, click the info button on the right.

Claim your own entry

We recognise that this is not an exhaustive list and our aim is to add more organisations on a regular basis. Hence, we eagerly welcome new entries and encourage organisations to get listed. You can claim an entry for an organization by just clicking on the button below and filling out the questionnaire.

We also encourage and welcome your feedback and suggestions of any other organisations that could be included.

Use the search filters below to narrow down your search for financial and/or technical support providers.

ABOUT THE DATABASE

Who is this database for?

This database aims to serve inclusive businesses that are looking for sources of support to help them grow, ranging from capital to technical support.

What does the database cover?

This database lists organizations that provide technical and financial support to inclusive businesses. The database will continue growing as support organizations are registered. Inclusive businesses are diverse, and so too are the range of organizations that provide support and the types of support they offer. The resources listed cover a continuum of financing solutions, from grants and concessional financing to commercial finance and private equity. They also include organizations and initiatives providing technical assistance (TA), advice, partnership brokering, information, advocacy, and networking. The database is easy to navigate and provides useful filters such as the range of financial support provided and the stage of enterprise supported (if such information is available).

More organizations will be added over time and suggestions are welcome. Other database that we recommend include:

Why and how was the database developed?

Inclusive business entrepreneurs often face difficulties identifying partners that could provide crucial financial and technical support. Even though such support is available, information about it is often fragmented and hard to find. The database addresses this challenge, making information on financial and technical support easy to identify and navigate by providing easily searchable categories and filters.

The entries and information provided in the database are compiled by the research team using information publicly available on organization websites or provided directly by the organizations themselves.

Who developed the database?

The Practitioner Hub for Inclusive Business (now inclusivebusiness.net) and the Asian Development Bank set up this database to help overcome this challenge. The Connect to Grow programme supported further development of this database in 2016, specifically to include intermediaries in its target countries. In late 2017 and 2018, the DFID Impact Programme funded the most comprehensive review and update of the database yet, which was implemented by Endeva. The Endeva team reviewed the categories and all existing entries, and also added hundreds of entries with the support of the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) and other partners.

ANDE has just launched a new site of their own that provides data about financial and non-financial support available for small and growing businesses in a specific city or country. ANDE’s Ecosystem Snapshots aim to help those supporting entrepreneurs to foster conditions in which businesses can thrive.

USING THE DATABASE

What can users search for on the database?

You can keep your search for organizations broad by just selecting the finance and/or technical support offering you are looking for or you can narrow down your search by selecting further filters such as type of organization, sector, region/country etc. If you are looking for a specific topic that is not included in the current category list, use the keywords search bar to search the entire database. This will return results on that topic from the whole database.

If users want all entries from Asia, does one need to select all Asian countries, too (or ditto for other continents)?

No. If you would like to see all the material for one continent, for example South Asia, select ‘South Asia’ under the ‘Region/Country’ filter and click on the ‘Apply’ button. This will bring up all intermediaries that provide support in South Asia.

Can users submit a new entry for inclusion or edit an existing entry in the database?

We recognise that this is not an exhaustive list and our aim is to add more organisations on a regular basis. Hence, we eagerly welcome new entries and encourage organisations to get listed. Go to your My iBAN-dashboard/My database entries, add a new entry and fill in the form with the details of the resource you wish to submit. The database team will review the entry before it is approved and post it on the site within a week. Please note that only submissions that match our criteria will be included.

We also encourage and welcome your feedback and suggestions of any other organizations that could be included.

In addition, we value feedback on existing entries, as well as feedback on the usefulness of this database to your work. Please have a look and get back to us!

The link to a specific resource is not working, what can users do?

All our database entries directly link to external websites of organizations and authors from which resources can be accessed. Consequently, we have limited control over links and external resources may change over time. If you notice a dead link, please help us to keep the database up to date by writing an email to info[at]ib-an.net. The link will then be updated or removed.

Stage of org. Focus

Intermediary Database

1to4 is a Swiss non-profit organisation that provides patient seed capital and support to early stage social businesses that provide access to products and services for low-income families in low-income countries.

Access to Capital for Rural Enterprises (ACRE) is a platform to connect small and medium size enterprises to impact investors and business experts providing technical assistance. ACRE focuses on enterprises that require between USD 150,000 and USD 1.5 million in loan or equity finance.

Acorn Private Equity is a private equity fund manager and investment advisor focused on small and medium-sized enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa. The fund invests USD 10 million to USD 40 million in mid-cap businesses in food production and processing, utilities, healthcare, education, building materials, consumer goods, financial services, waste management and precludes industries such as primary agriculture, mining and real estate.

Action Hero Ventures is a private investment holding company that makes early stage investments and provides assistance in strategy formulation and execution and by giving access to valuable networks to scalable businesses. The maximum initial investment amount is ZAR 3M and it prefers to invest alongside other investors for a minority equity stake.

The Africa Management Services Company (AMSCO) tackles the scarcity of human capital in Africa by providing human capital solutions to African industries. It works with a wide variety of clients, ranging from private and public investors, small and medium enterprises and large companies through to industry associations and governmental organisations with a vision to grow African businesses, assisting them to become globally competitive, profitable and sustainable. AMSCO grew out of the African Training and Management Services Project (ATMS), a joint initiative of International Finance Corporation (IFC), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and African Development Bank (AfDB).

Agri-Vie is a private equity investment fund focused on the food and agribusiness value chain. Agri-Vie supports the involvement of in-country entrepreneurs and shareholders in the ownership and management of investee companies. It has an average transaction amount of USD 6 million.

Business Partners Limited (BUSINESS/PARTNERS) is a risk finance company that provides financial solutions, sectoral knowledge, mentorship, and other services for small and medium-sized enterprises in Africa. Business Partners focuses on enterprises operating in manufacturing, commercial property, retail, motor trade, travel and tourism, leisure and services industries.